Toogle switches on a 6120

I was at GC last night and they had a new Setzer 6120 on the wall, and I played it for about 30min. I gotta say, it didn't have the tone I was expecting through a Fender bassman reissue. A little thin. I'm not sure which pick ups were on it either, they were not stamped TV Jones. What I really don't get is the Toggle switches. Clearly one is the pick up selector, but what does the other one do? I couldn't tell a difference in any position. Maybe that's why Setzer removed his back in the day.

The pickup height is never set correctly on those guitars at GC and filtertrons have got
to be right close to the strings (5/32nds -3/16ths) to be fat loud and twangy.


That mud switch you are talking about is the tone control. Middle is "bypassed" and up and down
are variables of treble attenuation for I guess jazz and heavy fuzz use...
they suck stock, and yes they get in the way. my opinion of course..but most everyone sez
they suck. (wake up gretch!)

Thats why I went with a pushpull tone pot. when I need the tone control in
the circuit, I pop it up and its there. Otherwise it doesnt exist and there's nothing to bump.
I guess if you go all the way like Setzer, there is "nothing" to bump.

btw.. A Stock Gretsch Setzer sig model does have tvjones filtertrons but only the after market jones
pkups say "tvjones" and even he makes the option avail to have the serial number.

You gotta trust me that a properly set up 6120SSU is an incredible and toneful instrument but
with the pkups too low, it doesnt sound good. I had the same situation with a
Rev Horton Model (6120RHH) and you could NOT adjust the pkups because there were only
wood shims beneath the filtertrons. A freakin static set up and it wasnt correct.
I popped em out and installed neoprene and got the pkup heights correct and the guitar came
ALIVE!!

you can see Mr. Tom do the dirty work right here for future reference!

Why do you suppose Gretsch just doesn't set them up right in the first place? So if you were going to buy one, how do you go about finding someone in my area (CO) that can set it up, or is it something I can attempt without screwing anything up. I did like your thought from an old thread about learning how to custom on a 5120. The kids at GC sure don't seem to have a clue.

Personally I"m not too sure Gretsch is so excited about having to use tvjones pickups, but they have never got things right. They dont double wax pot the pkups for microphonics, the alnico bar magnet
in their upline pkups (many are still the nasty ceramic) are too short,etc,etc..

They get it, and they do it way better than gibson...but for some reason the pickup issue has not
been resolved.

As far as you fixing the pickups yourself, if you can handle that video, you can do your own pickups
and you'd be floored about how much cooler your guitar sound when its set up correct. The irony
about these filtertrons is that you can do the same thing to say a Stratocaster and the guitars sustain
diminishes from the magnetic pull and ghost noting starts occuring above the 12th fret.
Not so with these filtertrons.

I love gretsch guitars, even though I still play my strat regularly...but a fender guitar is retarded
compared to a good maple hollowbody with filtertrons IMO.

I think I'm gonna buy me a 5120, and play around with installing some TV Jones classics and see what happens. I suspect what will happen is it will be fun, but a little dissappointing, then I'll talk myself (and the wife) into a 6120, the I'll go on an endless search for an amp, then I'll still play crappy, then I'll start going to AA meetings for guitaraholics, then I'll blame you. The first step is admiting I have a problem. I'm admiting.

Do you see anything crazy about what this guy did to his? I suspect it my fall under the "you can't polish a turd" catagory.
http://hem.passagen.se/goba666/Gretsch%205120%20-%20total%20makeover.htm

vic wrote:

I think I'm gonna buy me a 5120, and play around with installing some TV Jones classics and see what happens. I suspect what will happen is it will be fun, but a little dissappointing, then I'll talk myself (and the wife) into a 6120, the I'll go on an endless search for an amp, then I'll still play crappy, then I'll start going to AA meetings for guitaraholics, then I'll blame you. The first step is admiting I have a problem. I'm admiting.

Do you see anything crazy about what this guy did to his? I suspect it my fall under the "you can't polish a turd" catagory.
http://hem.passagen.se/goba666/Gretsch%205120%20-%20total%20makeover.htm

G.A.S. is tough but fun for a little while!

I've seen that install page before although I dont agree with log. pots as they should be audio
taper 500K pots and belden heavy duty shielded cabling should be used not that crap vintage
cloth covers wire.
Yes you can spend money and energy to fix up a fake gretsch, but you can have a real
one for $900 if you can live with a 6118T its a far superior guitar than that 5XXX series.
SAve up man.

Man, I have NEVER- EVER- played a 6120/Setzer in ANY guitar shop that felt or sounded good. The Fender reps really need to step up their QC at the dealer levels. Pickups too low, strings corroded, strings to old to be tuned...

A couple weeks ago I tried one in a GC, felt like it had been on the wall in someone's cellar for 3 years, went to tune it & the B string came right out of the tuning head. I told the GC kid, he just nodded his head & put it back up on the wall as is. How in the hell do they think they can sell a $3000 guitar without it even being in a playable condition?!?!

For the record- GCs do differ. I actually have a family member who manages a GC and he runs a tight ship. Just like most things, you've got to find a business where the people actually CARE about their jobs.